Manchester City have no chance of winning the quadruple according to manager Manuel Pellegrini if they play like they did during the first half of this weekend’s match against Watford.
A hat-trick from Sergio Aguero after the break secured the comeback 4-2 victory and took the striker’s tally for the season to 25 goals in just 24 matches.
Despite the win Pellegrini blasted his players’ performance in the first half that left him a concerned onlooker from the technical area with the Sky Blues 2-0 down.
“I don’t know what will happen in the future but I am absolutely sure that if we played as we did in the first half, it’s impossible, but if we play as we did in second half maybe we can continue in all the competitions,” he said.
“I was very worried at half-time because I talked with the players a lot before the match and said that in the FA Cup, teams that play in a lower division have a lot of motivation,” he said.
“The whole team didn’t do the things that we normally do in the first-half, the most important thing for me is that Watford didn’t score the third goal.
The Chilean maintained that he did not underestimate the Championship side and was pleased that his players responded to his instructions issued at half time.
“We changed everything, we played with tempo, with pace,” he explained.
“We continued playing in the same way we’ve played in this whole season at the Etihad.
“This reaction was very important.”
Pellegrini also praised his Argentinean forward who helped City to maintain their perfect record at home this season.
“Sergio is a top player, he’s very important for us,” he added.
“We didn’t want him to play 90 minutes, the idea was for him to play 60 or 70 minutes but it didn’t turn out like that.
“We had to leave him on and he made the difference.”
Image courtesy of MCFC via YouTube, with thanks.
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